The Bahrain International Circuit has today honoured the seven times world champion Michael Schumacher by renaming Turn 1 after him.

The German remains in a coma in hospital in France after a skiing accident at New Year, despite attempts to wake him.

Schumacher’s connections with the circuit extend to consultation on the design and also it was the scene of his comeback to F1 in 2010, with Mercedes, after three years of retirement.

It is likely to be the first of a series of gestures like this over the coming year, as the sport comes to terms with the terrible situation its most successful driver finds himself in. It means that millions of F1 fans around the world will be mindful of Schumacher as commentators mention his name at the start of the Grand Prix.

Bahrain celebrates its 10th anniversary this year as an F1 venue, although the 2011 race there was cancelled due to civil unrest.

Two of the three 2014 pre-season tests have taken place there and the final one concludes today. This year’s Grand Prix in April will be the first to be held under lights at night. THe lighting project has cost €13 million and involved 5,000 lights around the circuit.

Zayed Al Zayani, Chairman of the Bahrain International Circuit, said: “With the support of his family, it is a great privilege to be able to honour arguably the greatest racing driver in the history of F1 and someone who the people of Bahrain hold close to their hearts. From his first appearance at the BIC in 2004, he immediately became an inspiration for all those who love motorsport in the Kingdom and it is therefore natural for us to recognise him in this way.”

Sabine Kehm, Schumacher’s manager, said: “Michael’s family would like to thank the Bahrain International Circuit for this gesture, acknowledging Michael’s achievements in Formula One and interest in the BIC circuit design. We take it as a recognition for his passion for motorsport. I am convinced Michael will love the idea and feel very honoured about having a BIC corner named after him.”

Darn, this is another of those reasons why Schumi should make a recovery so he can see all these good gestures people have done in his honour.

Yes thanks to the Bahrain organisers for this move considering Schumi was the first driver to become successful at the new track back in 2004.

Also I hope the sport as a whole will do something special for the Kaiser before the start of the first race perhaps fly a plane over the skies with a get well soon champ banner >>> or something of the sort.

Anyway, am still believing for some good news from the Schumi camp because we have seen it many times for just when you think Schumi is out of it, out of no where he surprises the fans with a win e.g. Canada 2006.

Darn, this is another of those reasons why Schumi should make a recovery so he can see all these gestures people have done in his honour…Keep fighting Schumi.

Now if only Sabine Kehm would desist from her cynical effort to embargo all news on Schumacher’s condition and downplay the lack of progress on his recovery, then millions of loyal fans might be able to contextualize this “gesture”.

Is it, as you hope, a flight of fancy or folly that Michael will laugh at (or express appreciation for) ‘when’ he “make[s] a recovery”, or is it really the first official pre-”in memoriam”/tribute to a Giant of the Road who’s pretty much already left us, but w/ his shattered physical form still hanging around?

The problem is we don’t know, b/c there’s no “good news from the Schumi camp” – in fact, there’s NO news from Kehm, and that’s a problem.

I fear that you, and many like you, are setting yourselves up for terrible grief when/if it’s finally revealed that Michael may survive indefinitely, but is simply not going to regain consciousness…

In this day and age it’s very easy for rumours to spread over the internet. I think Kehm is doing the right thing in asking for people not to speculate positively or negatively. That way people don’t fear the best or the worst. Once a proper prognosis has been reached – and that may be some time away – THEN let his fans know the score.

It doesn’t make sense trying to keep MS’s condition a secret. It would be more fair to all, even him, to just tell the truth to ‘the rest of the world’.
No good news in this case are bad news indeed. I’m sure millions check the news every day for a ray of hope. I do too.
Hope I’m wrong, but I feel chances are we won’t see the great man back in any meaningful way.

Get well Michael, want to see you come round. Your amazing dedication to your craft forced everyone to take notice and put in the same dedication and professional as you did.
Thinking of the Schumacher’s at this difficult time.

As I’ve said at the other post. I have a conspiracy theory about Schumi. Since it is hard to believe that they would keep him in a coma for 2 months, I am hoping that he’s already been brought out quietly to avoid the media and to allow the rehabilitation process to start. The coma story is a cover to keep the media away as you know they would swarm the hospital the minute news of Schumi awaking would come out.

As I’ve said at the other post. I have a conspiracy theory about Schumi…

Are you making a joke/humor here, or is that childlike story really what you’re telling yourself?

F1′s own Dr. Gary Hartstein has shared enough sobering thoughts on the topic to disabuse any reasonable/rational person of the notion that the lack of updates on Michael’s progress is indicative of anything other than his not recovering…

Usually i’m never affected by the illness or deaths of “celebrities”, but Michael Schumacher to me, for some reason is more than that, i honestly do feel genuinely sad whenever i remember Michael is not well.

Nice gesture,by Bahrain Int Circuit,but truly its only to show the world how compassionate they are,but the fact is,the “Honchos” of the Kingdom do not have any compassion to wards its
people, the F1 should never have been held there it’s only a certain little named Bernie Elcclestone who lives by greed and the greed will take care of its self, the law of Karma what goes around it comes around.

Zayed Al Zayani, Chairman of the Bahrain International Circuit, said: “With the support of his family, it is a great privilege to be able to honour arguably the greatest racing driver in the history of F1 and someone who the people of Bahrain hold close to their hearts.”

As the legend sleeps i hope his subconscious can somehow hear and feel all these wonderful gestures. Come on Mikey, one last win for F1 and your fans. Pull through and stay strong !

I said this a few years back but is Schumacher the only F1 driver to drive a corner named after him when he returned in 2010 at Nurburgring? I know theres the Senna S in Interlagos but wasnt this named after his death?

Anyway its a nice gesture i hope they put something at the corner like his name in the tarmac as a permanent mark. This whole thing just seems so surreal like its some sort of bad dream. I still believe he will pull through this. Forza Michael!

@ bogracer i thought that it was the very time and place to record my comment. nothing to do with class. the name of the thread concerns the naming of a corner on a race track after a driver does it not? why is it that now that shumacher is incapacitated that they choose to do this? in my cynical eyes a bit too much of the old ‘conspicuous compassion’. it all rings rather hollow….IMO.

no one wishes ill of someone who has had a serious accident but lets just see some perspective here. any attempt to immortalise a driver who, despite winning so many WDC’s. found it necessary to cheat and drive in such a manner that showed total and utter disregard for,amongst other things, the safety of his fellow drivers does not deserve the accolades being heaped upon him IMO.